The Superior Council of Magistracy (CSM) consists of 12 members, but it now has only eight members. So far, Parliament designated three of the six non-judge members, while the General Assembly of Judges chose four of the six judge members of the SCM. Together with Nina Cernat, a SCM member from the previous composition of the Council, the SCM now has eight members, IPN reports.

At the end of March, Parliament appointed three SCM members from among non-judges. These are Tatiana Ciaglic, Alexandru Postica and Ion Guzun.  The legislative body launched a contest to select the other three candidates for the vacancies of member of the Superior Council of Magistracy. The contest consists of the following stages: submission and acceptance of files; assessment of the integrity of candidates by a special commission (pre-vetting), the contest of files and the interview. Those who will not pass the assessment of the special commission will not be admitted to the next stage of the contest.

On April 28, the General Assembly of Judges elected four members to the SCM for a six-year term. These are Vasile Șchiopu, Ioana Chironeț, Sergiu Caraman and Maria Frunze. All the four are judges at common law courts.

Contacted by IPN for a comment, SCM member Ion Guzun said that among the judge members of the Council are four judges of common law courts, one judge of an appeals court and one judge of the Supreme Court of Justice. Only four judges of common law courts have been elected to the Council so far and also substitute member Livia Mitrofan, of the Centru Court of Chisinau.

The General Assembly of Judges is to choose two more SCM members from an appeals court and the Supreme Court of Justice. When the SCM member from an appeals court is selected, the term in office of Nina Cernat will come to an end.